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‘Challah for Ceasefire’?: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on watching women’s media walk the political tightrope
In the before-times, a personal essay in a century-old women’s magazine about home-baked challah, in which the writer discusses how this ritual connects them to their Jewish roots, would be a cozy moment of communal pride at best (representation, and in Nova Scotia at that!)—or, at worst, of interest solely to the friends and family of the author…
Writers are attacking the Giller Prize for its Israeli military ties. What happens if it collapses?
In the aftermath of Oct. 7, Canada’s broadly left-wing literary community took aim at the Giller Prize, Canada’s foremost award for fiction, for its title sponsorship coming from Scotiabank. The financial institution, they have argued, has millions of dollars invested in an Israeli arms dealer—leading to backlash from pro-Palestinian writers who began boycotting the Giller for taking $100,000 as prize money, withdrawing as entrants and judges.
The controversy has taken a lengthy, convoluted road since then, involving past winners speaking out critically of the Giller Prize; Elana Rabinovitch—the executive director of the prize and daughter of its founder—taking to traditional and social media to defend her organization’s actions; and various half-measures by Scotiabank and Giller that have decreased (but not eliminated) their association with the Middle East conflict. Meanwhile, the competition is still going on, with a winner set to be announced on Nov. 18.
With Avi Finegold in Canada this week, he joins his Bonjour Chai co-host, Phoebe Maltz Bovy, in her living room to unpack this mess and discuss whether the criticism is legitimate or yet another example of antisemitism, framing big-money Jews as string-pulling villains.
They’re joined by Michael Inzlicht, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and writer of the newsletter Speak Now Regret Later, who also happens to live in Phoebe’s neighbourhood of Roncesvalles. Their community has seen a surge of pro-Palestinian signs in storefront windows over the past year, prompting the question: What do you do when controversial geopolitics come to your local coffee shop?
More of what we’ve been talking about…
The horror of the Amsterdam riots [Tanya Gold, The New Statesman]
‘Where are all the Jews at?’ A year after mass rally for Israel, turnout at its followup is sparse [Ron Kampeas, JTA]
Why Is a publisher of antisemitic and homophobic authors winning a national book award? [Mark Oppenheimer, ARC]
Kosher pork and Jews riding sows — how pigs came to define Jewish identity [Mira Fox, The Forward]
Attention, Satmar Shoppers: A visit to Williamsburg’s W Mall [Talia Lavin, Curbed]